There are meters that, among other capabilities, measure common resources (herein, meant to include consumption of commodities like electrical energy, water, and gas). Standard meters, as understood in the electrical utilities business in the United States and herein, are those that conform to ANSI standard C 12.10. This and other standards (and counterparts in jurisdictions around the world) dictate a host of restrictions, including the physical envelope or form factor, the dimensions, locations and materials for power pins, the permissible types of electrical connections with the meter, and similar items, for a one or multi-phase electricity measuring meter. The policy is to maximize safety and inter-compatibility of meters from different manufacturers. This ANSI standard in effect, prohibits or strongly discourages any electrical connection between the meter and anything else except for the power pins and grounds.
To make a standard meter a useful part of a network, it is desirable to provide it with extra functionality (e.g. RF communication) and ideally, to so provide by means of an easily releasably attachable adapter. It is also desirable that the overall footprint of the adapter be minimized (while still conforming to the standard) and yet be sufficiently large to house the desired extra functionality. The present invention addresses those objectives. And although the embodiment of the present invention described below is with reference to a standard electrical meter, certain aspects of it are not thereby restricted thereto, and are applicable to meters that measure other resources such as water and gas.